Stand up to poverty

As governments worldwide continue to worry about the global recession, they may lose sight of the plight faced by millions of people who live in poverty.

For this reason, over the next three days, millions of people around the globe will stand up in a symbolic gesture to ensure that their governments do not forget their commitment to help eradicate poverty.

Even in Malta, people are being urged to join in and stand up for one minute between today and Sunday and send photos of the stand-up to standupmalta@gmail.com. The event is part of a series of activities organised to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty tomorrow by calling on governments to live up to the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals.

These goals were agreed to by 189 nations - including Malta - in 2000 who pledged among other things to halve extreme poverty, halt the spread of AIDS/HIV and provide universal primary education by 2015.

Last year's Stand Ups counted up to almost 116 million people from over 131 countries, which adds up to two per cent of the world population.

Apart from the stand-up, a series of awareness-raising activities are being organised.

These include a photographic exhibition, titled Hunger Free Women Speak Out, that opened yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and runs until Thursday.

Tomorrow Theatrencore will perform the play Ċeda l-Imbatt at MITP theatre in St Christopher Street, Valletta, at 8 p.m. This will be followed by a discussion about poverty.

On Monday a workshop about Art Campaigning Management will be held at St James Cavalier in Valletta between 6 and 8 p.m.